A/N: Well, the story's finally winding down. Just the epilogue left after this. Hope you're still enjoying it.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

Cross Marian was less than thrilled to be back at headquarters. He had managed to sneak away after the whole fiasco with the Fourteenth Noah had been resolved and he hadn't been back since. It was five glorious years of freedom that had come to an abrupt end when he came across a new accommodator. Not wanting to train the brat himself, he had no choice but to escort the kid to headquarters.

Ditching the brat with Komui, Cross trudged to the dining hall. If he was going to be at headquarters, he could at least get some of Jerry's cooking out of the deal. Plus, the cafeteria was the most likely place for Allen to be, and the general definitely wanted to take some of his frustrations out on his idiot apprentice.

Allen was the very first person he saw when he walked through the doors, but Cross didn't know that. To him, the woman chatting with Jerry was just someone interesting and unexpected. Cross couldn't ever recall seeing a pregnant woman at headquarters before; the Order "encouraged" recruits to leave their families behind, so unless things had changed, this girl had gotten pregnant while she was working for the Order, and that was severely frowned upon. That, combined with her obvious physical beauty, meant that she had Cross' full attention.

Given that the exorcist jacket she wore was clearly not hers, as it was far too big on her petite frame, Cross could only conclude that she was the partner of one of the exorcists. It was obvious which one too, as the gold trimming on the coat meant that she was with a general, and there was only one general her age. Cross couldn't recall his name, but knowing that the Japanese kid was one of Teidoll's brats meant he didn't feel even remotely bad about that.

In the midst of deciding if he cared enough to approach her to find out who she was, the woman turned in his direction. Cross recognized her the second he saw the jagged red scar running down the left side of her face, but the way she started spluttering when she saw him made it even more obvious. Her voice may have been higher and more female than it was the last time he heard it, but to be that flustered from just seeing him at a distance, that woman could only be Allen.

Seeing Cross unexpectedly like that made Allen want to scream and run away, but the size of her belly made running physically impossible. She could only stand rooted in the spot as she locked eyes with her former teacher. The look on his face made it clear that he knew exactly who she was, and that was mortifying. Cross was the one person who she was hoping would never see what she had turned into; he was going to be completely insufferable about it.

Getting over his initial shock, Cross could only laugh. Which he did loudly and uproariously. Allen Walker had never been the most masculine child, and Cross had long suspected that he played for the other team, so seeing him like this now was absolutely hilarious to the redhead. "What the hell happened to you?"

The question made Allen deadpan. "I got pregnant."

Cross snorted as he eyed her bulging middle. "I can see that. I meant-"

In no mood to deal with any of this, Allen quickly cut him off. "I know what you meant. And that's still the answer. I got pregnant and the new hormones in my system made me look like this."

As Allen's fears had anticipated, Cross knew exactly what the vague statement meant. "And by that you mean that you're actually female."

She blushed bright red, dropping her gaze to the floor and letting her hair fall in her eyes. The embarrassed reaction told Cross that his suspicions were true, and that made him laugh again. The pair stayed that way, Allen staring at the ground while her former teacher laughed uncontrollably at her, until the general's amusement over the situation wore off.

To Allen's surprise, it only took a few minutes for Cross to stop laughing, and even more surprising than that was that he actually chose to let his paternal side surface and express worry for her. "Tell me about this guy you're with. Is he treating you right?"

Allen may not have completely understood Cross' reasoning for asking about Kanda, but she was too thankful for the subject change to care. "Kanda's been very supportive of me through all this. We got married a few years ago, and he's definitely taking that whole 'for better or for worse' thing seriously. He's made it very clear that he doesn't care about the way my body's changed."

Cross opened his mouth to pry further, but his question was drowned out by a child's joyful screaming as a small girl ran past them and up to Jerry's counter. The sight of such a young child within the Order's walls was disturbing, so Cross quickly turned his focus back on Allen, only to find Allen glaring angrily at the little girl. "Erika! We've talked about this before! No running in the halls!"

Tears pricked in Eri's eyes as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt and frowned down at the floor. "Sorry, Mommy."

Cross nearly recoiled at the softly spoken words. Given Allen's current condition, there was only one explanation for why the little girl would call her that, and it was mind blowing to discover that this wasn't her first pregnancy.

While Cross just stared stupidly at her, Allen gestured for Erika to come closer. As the little girl buried her face in her mother's pant leg, Allen pet her hair, gently soothing her tears away. "Just don't do it again, sweetheart."

Prying her daughter off her leg, Allen turned Erika around to face Cross. "Eri, this is Cross. He's a general like your daddy."

Eri curtsied. "Nice to meet you, sir."

While Cross remained stunned beyond words, this time by a little girl being far too mature for her age, Allen laughed at the girl's politeness. "No, no, Eri. You've got to call him 'Grandfather'."

The glare Cross shot Allen only made her laugh. But before he could say anything, Eri clapped her hands together and jumped up and down, her silver eyes lighting up with excitement. She ran over to Cross and hugged his leg tightly. He glared down at her, but the way she smiled up at him killed all of his dislike for the situation. She was far too precious for him to be angry with her. "Did you bring me a present like Grampa Teidoll does?"

Cross picked her up and brushed her beautiful navy hair out of her eyes, marveling at the fact that the tiny child was speaking in complete sentences. "Sorry, dear. Blame your mother. She didn't tell me that you were here."

Allen scowled at being referred to by that word, but she was too scared of what Cross would do in response to argue with him. She took her daughter from the general and placed her on her own two feet. "Ok, Eri. You can go get lunch now."

The pair watched the girl toddle off before turning to each other and they conversation they both knew they needed to have. Cross broke the silence first. "So what's wrong with her? She can't be more than two years old. A child that young shouldn't be talking like that yet."

Allen bristled at the comment and scowled dangerously at him. "She's three. And nothing's wrong with her. She's just smart for her age."

She suddenly sighed heavily, all her aggression leaving her body. "Komui thinks that her Innocence is making her develop faster than is normal, but Hevlaska says that's a load of crap. I want to believe her, she's the expert on Innocence after all, but..."

"She's a parasite-type?" The tone of Cross' voice made Allen take a step back. She knew that the man would eventually come to love Erika, but she hadn't expected it to happen that fast.

Allen nodded, placing a hand on her belly. "So is this one."

Cross hissed lowly and shook his head. "Why did you have to choose one of Teidoll's brats to mate with? Now I have to share grandkids with that sentimental old fool."

.x.x.

Master Cross stayed for nearly a month. It was weird having him around like that, but I got used to it and was actually sad to see him go. He was working hard at being a good grandfather to Erika, but eventually his patience with the Order ran out and not even his "little angel" could keep him around any longer. I wanted to be mad at him for abandoning her like that, but the only thing I felt was jealousy; he had tried a lot harder with Eri than he ever had with me.

But I had other things to be concerned with. The final months of my pregnancy had passed much more quickly than I thought they would, and I still had way too much to do to prepare for the arrival of my second child. It was difficult balancing all of that with taking care of my rambunctious daughter, and on top of it all, the head nurse had only gotten more particular about my daily exams as my due date drew closer.

That Friday started like usual. Erika climbed on our bed and demanded to be fed, which was followed by the incredibly difficult task of getting my full term pregnant body dressed in a time frame that was quick enough for her. After breakfast came my usual exam with the matron. She tried to lecture me like she always did, but I escaped, arriving at the dining hall just in time to join my friends and family for lunch.

However, it was only a few minutes after I sat down that my water broke.

The sudden and unexpected soaking of my pants confused me, but only for a second, as it was immediately followed by an incredibly painful contraction. While I was relieved that it wasn't like last time, and my baby's head hadn't crowned with my first contraction, it still hurt like hell to have it forced into my birth canal like that. My labor may not have been progressing as quickly as it had with Erika, but it was definitely moving fast.

Quickly returning to my senses, I made sure to mask the pain that I felt. Not only did I not want to cause a scene in the middle of the crowded dining hall, I did not want to risk scaring Erika. Forming a plan and acting swiftly, I turned to the nearest responsible person. "Hey Lena? Can you keep an eye on Eri for a bit?"

Ignoring her confused questioning, I pushed myself up off the bench. The change in position made the baby shift lower inside me, her head pushing even more painfully against my opening, and it was hard not to visibly react to the unexpected pain.

As I anticipated, the second I was on my feet, Kanda was beside me, helping me to keep my balance. His expression asked what was happening, but his mouth stayed shut when he saw that I was in pain; he'd gotten a whole lot better at reading me over the last few years. I latched onto him for support as my next contraction started, fighting against the urge to push and managing to convey to him with just a nod towards the doors that I wanted him to help me out of the cafeteria.

Alone in the hallway, the contraction ended and Kanda stared sternly at me. "The baby's coming."

I nodded in response to the statement, whimpering in pain as another contraction started. Unable to hold back any longer, I gave in to the urge to push, crying out in relief as the baby's head finally crowned completely.

Yuu was swearing under his breath the whole time, and when the contraction ended, he fixed me with a scowl that would have been scary had I not been in such agony. I didn't catch what he said next, as the pain suddenly flared up again and it was all I could do to remember to breathe. I bore down, completely relying on instinct as I tried to deliver my baby. I knew it was useless; the baby was stuck how she was, held in place by my clothing. But she wanted out of me, so I was unable to do anything other than push and try to put an end to the horrible pain my body was in.

Then, as the pain reached its peak, with my opening stretched unbearably wide around my daughter's shoulders, my overheated skin was suddenly exposed to the air. Before I could process that my pants had been pulled down, the baby slipped the rest of the way out of me. I nearly collapsed, sobbing in relief and joy at realizing that the birth was over.

I was snapped from my emotional outburst when I felt a strong hand take hold of my wrist. I let Kanda move my hands from his shoulders, but instead of dropping them at my sides, he positioned them in front of my chest. And it wasn't until he was putting the baby in my arms that I realized that not only had he been beside me the whole time, he had been paying attention to what I was going through. It was Yuu who had removed my pants, and judging from the residue on his hands, he had caught our child when she came out of me.

He kissed my forehead gently as he moved my tired arms so that I was actually supporting the newborn. And it was then that I realized that he was laughing at me. I tried to glare at him, but I clearly didn't get the point across, as it only made him laugh louder. "Baka Moyashi. You couldn't wait, could you? You had to give birth in the middle of the hallway."

Before I could argue with him, he picked me up bridal style and began to carry me off. "Let's get you to the infirmary."

The head nurse was surprised to see us, but that morphed into anger when she saw that I had already delivered the baby. "What happened to coming to the infirmary the second you felt any sort of pain?"

I scowled back at her in response, exhausted from the strain of labor and completely done with her lectures. "You examined me half an hour ago. You said that nothing had changed and I was still days if not weeks away from going into labor."

She tried to argue back but quickly realized that it was futile. Instead, she focused on her job, and just a few minutes later, I was resting comfortably in an infirmary bed and holding a cleaned and blanketed baby in my arms. Like me and her sister, Addie had gorgeous silver eyes, and I was both dreading and looking forward to the day when she grew into them.

I didn't get to look at her any closer than that though, as that was when Lavi arrived. He had been sent to check on me by Lenalee, who had grown worried when we hadn't come back. The redhead squealed in excitement and fawned over Addie, making her cry from how loud he was being.

Yuu took our daughter from me, easily soothing her back to a state of quiet. The room was peaceful for a moment, but then Kanda stiffened and that happy atmosphere grew chilly. "Care to explain why our daughter has red hair, Moyashi?"

The question may have been directed at me, but his terrifyingly fierce glare was pointed at Lavi. It took a second to get it, and I nearly laughed out loud when I realized that Yuu was thinking I had cheated on him with Lavi; it was far too ridiculous to be plausible. But I also didn't want to upset my temperamental husband any further than he already was, so I forced down my amusement and treated the situation as gently as I could. "Relax, Yuu. It's nothing like that. That's my natural hair color. I was a redhead before ... you know... what happened with Mana. I would never cheat on you."

Kanda briefly looked embarrassed, but he pushed it aside and pointedly focused all his attention on the baby in his arms. Lavi, meanwhile, went from looking confused to horrified as he realized that he'd just been accused of having an affair with me. His expression settled on a queasy half smile. "Allen may be hot now that she's a woman-"

"Hey!"

My protest was ignored. "-but she's still Allen. That'd be like incest or something. Besides, you're so terrifyingly possessive of her that I'm almost too scared to be around her in public, never mind actually being alone with her."

"Good." I didn't see the look Yuu shot Lavi, but I knew it was smug and that Lavi was right to react in terror. In the blink of an eye, the redhead had fled the room, leaving me alone with my husband and my newborn daughter.

.x.x.

Erika was thrilled to have a little sister. She loved to help her parents take care of the baby, and she played with Addie whenever she was given the chance. Addie adored her older sister, and by the time she was old enough to walk and talk, the two girls were already best friends. Together they caused a lot of chaos around the Order. They were always well behaved and respectful, especially when Allen and Kanda were around, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that they were going to be demons when they were older.